It’s a bit of Automattic lore, but although I founded the company in June 2005, CNET asked me to stay on for a few more months to finish out some projects, which I did. Our HR systems have me as the second employee, after Donncha O Caoimh (still at the company!) So today is my 20th anniversary at Automattic! It’s 20 years since I started hacking on Akismet, our first product, and on WordPress.com.
The team gave me a sweet surprise! I’ve been fighting for the open web for 20 years, and hope to do it for at least 20 more. There’s a lot of exciting behind-the-scenes stuff happening inside Automattic that also made this day special, but one significant thing is public.
Automattic has finally had its first chance to file its counterclaims against WP Engine and Silver Lake, as reported here by TechCrunch. You may recall that last month, the court dismissed several of their most serious claims, and they responded by filing an amended complaint. In our dogged defense of the free, open, and thriving WordPress ecosystem, Automattic responded today with a comprehensive counter-filing, which you can read in a 162-page PDF here about all the things WP Engine/Heather Brunner and Silver Lake did wrong.
We’ve got receipts!
I don’t think WP Engine employees or investors were aware of the gaslighting they did, hopefully some of this is enlightening. And there’s a lot more discovery to go!
